Is my rope fish a killer?

[bolk]

Hello,
I recently added a rope fish to an established and healthy 35 gallon tank. In the tank were two red barbs, two med. Plecos, two clown loaches and a small catfish. Within the last week I've found both loaches and the small cat dead.
One of the loaches was under a piece of wood where the rope fish hangs out.What I've read tells me the rope fish is friendly unless the fish are small enough to swallow. I assume the rope fish is the cause of death for these three fish since they all shared the bottom of the tank. Do I need to avoid bottom dwellers in general? I'm bummed out because the loaches and the cat were my fovorite fish.
Thanks for any advice.
Barry

 

[hc8719]

rope fish are probably one of the few things fw arquarist have over sw people, that and plecos.

i'd be pissed if i lost clown loaches, considering they're expensive, and suposibly being harder to find.

ive never had a rope fish, and too have read they're nice, but your fish didnt just flop over dead, exciting about the rope. i suppose the rope is killing for sport? they're not a very common fish, but im sure another owner has one here.

shame too, i was planning on getting one

 

[talloulou]

Ropefishes are usually peaceful though they might eat really small fish. I'd be surprised to find that the ropefish killed the clownloaches and cat.

Did the dead fish look bit? How are your water readings? Bottem Dwelling fish will often be affected by bad water first.

 

[Guest]

First, any fish can become aggressive if there is not enough room. I am not very experienced with ropefish, however I believe your tank is much to small. There are different species of ropefish. Some grow 7-8" and need a min. of 55-75 gal. and some can grow 30" which would require a very large tank.

IMO if you put any fish in an environment to small there will always be more aggression.

It will probably eat fish that it can fit in its mouth along with harass smaller fish as most fish will if there is a big difference in size.

 

[JRagg]

A friend of mine used to have a couple. They only went after other fish when he went too long without feeding, and by too long, i mean too long. Even then they would usually just grab some sort of tetra and head back under the gravel.

 

[bolk]

Thanks for the replies.
I guess my dilemma now is what do I do with this fish. I do have a larger tank with four oscars , but I would expect them to be aggressive towards a rope fish. I'm a little bothered by the fact I asked the owner of the aquarium store if this fish would be a good fit for the community I was adding to and he assured me it would be . By the way, the water tested good for everything and I didn't see chunks missing from the dead fish.
Barry

 

[Toirtis]

There are different species of ropefish.

No, there are not...only one species, Erpetoichthys calabaricus...the only species in the entire genus.

I would be surprised if the ropefish were the cause, unless the loaches and cat were small enough to have the ropefish believe it could swallow them...or unless the ropifish were very hungry (just what have you been feeding it?).

 

[Guest]

i'd consider the possibility that the new fish introduced a disease to the tank before thinking he killed the other fish aggressively. Clown Loaches from what i understand are relatively sensitive to disease.

from my experience, there are a lot of diseases that can't be seen. I lost a few fish to a mystery illness a few weeks ago that had no symptoms other than lethargy and once they became lethargic, it was too late. they died pretty quick after that.

 

[bolk]

I didn't even considere disease as a possible cause of death but that makes a lot of sense. If that were the cause would the disease remain active in the tank for a certain period of time or can I add a water treatment to make it safe to replace the loaches?
I feed this tank with algae wafers for the plecos and frozen bloodworms , frozen brine shrimp and flakes for the other fish.

 

[Guest]

No, there are not...only one species, Erpetoichthys calabaricus...the only species in the entire genus.

Oops, like I said don't know much about them and never had one so thanks for the correction